Race report
Formula 1 Malaysian GP
Vettel gives Ferrari its first win since 2013
Sebastian Vettel gave Ferrari its first Formula 1 win in nearly two years with a fantastic drive in the Malaysian Grand Prix.
Pablo Elizalde
Edited: Mar 29, 2015, 1:14 PM
Copy link
Share on Viber
Against all odds after Mercedes dominated the season-opening race, Vettel beat Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg, who had no response to the four-time world champion's drive.
The victory is Ferrari's first since the 2013 Spanish Grand Prix, the first for Vettel with the team, and his first since the 2013 Brazilian Grand Prix.
Hamilton had to settle for second position after running out of medium tyres for his final stint, something that led to angry outbursts on the radio. Rosberg completed the podium.
Ferrari's strong day was completed by Kimi Raikkonen finishing in fourth despite having to pit on the opening lap due to a puncture.
Williams duo Valtteri Bottas and Felipe Massa finished fifth and sixth, after the Finn passed the Brazilian with two laps to go.
Toro Rosso's Max Verstappen became the youngest ever point scorer at 17 years of age with a superb drive to seventh place ahead of teammate Carlos Sainz, again in the points.
Red Bull had a very disappointing day, as its cars proved to be slower than sister team Toro Rosso's. Daniil Kvyat finished down in ninth, one place ahead of teammate Daniel Ricciardo.
McLaren also had a race to forget, with Fernando Alonso retiring on lap 22 and teammate Jenson Button on lap 42, both sufferings car problems.
Force India drivers Nico Hulkenberg and Sergio Perez finished 14th and 13th respectively after being hit with penalties for accidents with Kvyat and Romain Grosjean.
Early safety car
While the order remained unchanged at the front at the start, there was drama for Raikkonen and Pastor Maldonado, both suffering a puncture on the opening lap.
Raikkonen was hit from behind on the final corner by the Sauber of Felipe Nasr, who damaged his front wing in the move.
Raikkonen had to complete a full lap on three wheels behind pitting and returning at the bottom of the field.
He got some helped on the next lap, however, as Marcus Ericsson spun into the gravel at Turn 1, triggering a safety car period that brought the field together.
Several drivers, including the Mercedes duo, took the opportunity to pit for new tyres. Vettel stayed out and led from Hulkenberg at the restart while Hamilton dropped to sixth and Rosberg to ninth.
Vettel benefited to open a big lead over Hulkenberg on the following laps, but Hamilton moved to second place by lap 11, ten seconds behind the Ferrari driver, who was quicker than the Briton at the time.
Vettel pitted from the lead on lap 18, emerging in third place behind Hamilton and Rosberg, but on the softer tyre compounds, unlike the Mercedes duo.
The German immediately began to close the gap on Rosberg and passed him easily at the final corner on lap 22.
Vettel needed just three laps to catch Hamilton, and re-took the lead of the race as the Briton dove into the pits to put mediums. He rejoined in fourth place behind Vettel and Rosberg, but moved to second when his teammate pitted moments later.
Hamilton, some 20 seconds behind Vettel, started catching Vettel at a rate of one second per lap.
Vettel pitted for hard tyres on lap 38 and returned to the track right in front of Rosberg and nearly 10 seconds behind Hamilton, who made his final pitstop on the following lap.
No medium tyres for Hamilton
The Briton also put on hard tyres after running out of mediums, but told his team on the radio that it was the wrong decision.
Rosberg was the last of the leaders to pit, with 14 laps to go, putting on mediums. He rejoined in third and launched a three-way fight for victory.
With 10 laps to go, Vettel led from Hamilton by over 10 seconds, with Rosberg another 10 behind. With the trio doing similar laptimes, Vettel's advantage remained stable until the end.
Race results - Malaysian GP 2015 DriverTeamTimePts 01 
S. Vettel 
Ferrari 56 laps 25 02 
L. Hamilton 
Mercedes +8.5 18 03 N. Rosberg Mercedes +12.3 15 04 
K. Raikkonen Ferrari +53.8 12 05 V. Bottas 
Williams +70.4 10 06 
F. Massa Williams +73.5 8 07 
M. Verstappen 
Toro Rosso +97.7 6 08 
C. Sainz Toro Rosso +1 lap 4 09 
D. Kvyat 
Red Bull +1 lap 2 10 
D. Ricciardo Red Bull +1 lap 1 11 
R. Grosjean 
Lotus +1 lap 0 12 F. Nasr 
Sauber +1 lap 0 13 
S. Perez 
Force India +1 lap 0 14 N. Hulkenberg Force India +1 lap 0 15 R. Merhi 
Manor +3 laps 0 16 
P. Maldonado Lotus DNF 0 17 J. Button 
McLaren DNF 0 18 F. Alonso McLaren DNF 0 19 
M. Ericsson Sauber DNF 0 20 W. Stevens Manor DNF 0
We want your opinion!
What would you like to see on Motorsport.com?
Take our 5 minute survey.
- The Motorsport.com Team
Read and post comments
Read also :
Share Or Save This Story
Copy link
Share on Viber
Previous article Malaysian GP: Post-race press conference
Next article Malaysian Grand Prix: News round-up
Top Comments
There are no comments at the moment. Would you like to write one?
View More & Comment
More from
Pablo Elizalde
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
MotoGP
MotoGP
Alpine becomes Pramac's main partner in MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
MotoGP
MotoGP
Liberty Media's $4bn MotoGP deal facing EU probe
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
Formula 1
Formula 1
Ocon wants answers to understand pace slump against Alpine team-mate
More from
Felipe Massa
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Formula 1
Formula 1
Italian GP
On this day: Michael Schumacher wins… and stuns tifosi with F1 retirement
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Formula 1
Formula 1
Defendant ordered to pay £250,000 legal fees in Felipe Massa F1 title case
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Formula 1
Formula 1
Las Vegas GP
Felipe Massa’s F1 2008 lawsuit will proceed to trial
Latest news
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
NASCAR Cup
NAS NASCAR Cup
Charlotte II
2 h
Spy shots of 2027 NASCAR Ford Mustang testing at Charlotte, but what's different?
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Formula 1
F1 Formula 1 3 h
Five key takeaways from F1's big African Grand Prix reveal in Rwanda
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
Indy NXT
IndL Indy NXT 4 h
Niels Koolen makes switch to Abel Motorsports ahead of 2027 Indy NXT campaign
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
GT World Challenge Europe Endurance
WCEE GT World Challenge Europe Endurance 5 h
GT World Challenge Portimao: All you need to know about season finale featuring Max Verstappen
Feature
Discover prime content
Subscribe and access Motorsport.com with your ad-blocker.
From Formula 1 to MotoGP we report straight from the paddock because we love our sport, just like you. In order to keep delivering our expert journalism, our website uses advertising. Still, we want to give you the opportunity to enjoy an ad-free and tracker-free website and to continue using your adblocker.
You have 2 options:
- Become a subscriber.
- Disable your adblocker.
Subscribe now Already subscribed? Sign in here
Already disabled your adblocker?
Reload page
Manage Alerts
Subscribe